I figure if the 360 losers have their thread, we ought to have one for the cool kids (and Trav) to talk Madden football.

I can start a community, and probably will today or tomorrow, but is there interest in starting an Online Franchise? I can try my hand at running it, but I just started a job so if someone else wants to take that job I'm more than happy to give it up. I was thinking maybe every Sunday night the season is advanced a week, but we encourage people to play their games early in the week so we can keep it moving quickly?

Also, the Eagles are ridiculously good in this game, so I'd recommend we save them for someone who is pretty new or we just say that'll be a CPU team. Too easy for me.

Anyways, if you're interested include your PSN name or add me. I'm SnoDimes.

Sarlacc, on comparing .NET to Soccer: And why not? It's a bunch of people running around in circles, feigning pain, and never scoring.

Okay I created the community and sent invited. Password is carroll. Haven't created the franchise league yet, still playing around with it and I want others to get the chance to get in on it. Feel free to call "dibs" on a team.

Sarlacc, on comparing .NET to Soccer: And why not? It's a bunch of people running around in circles, feigning pain, and never scoring.

I think you'd like this year's Madden, Trav. I haven't tested progressions in franchise mode, but having player tendencies is a great addition. I've noticed a difference between Cutler and Matt Ryan, whereas before the only difference was arm strength and mobility. Bigger running backs are also far better because they now fight for yards (I took Lynch to a 1300 yard season with only 250 carries... I'd have traded Lynch in previous years because he's not anyone's idea of fast). It's been a lot of fun so far.

I'd like to give others the chance to sign up for online franchise (once I figure out what I'm doing), I'm going to change my sig to see if we can get everyone to join. I'll set it up Friday afternoon if possible. I'm moving this weekend so things might get hectic, but I'd love to get the ball rolling.

Sarlacc, on comparing .NET to Soccer: And why not? It's a bunch of people running around in circles, feigning pain, and never scoring.

Aside: In my Franchise, I traded Jennings and a 4th for Ryan Mallett. Suck it.

Madden Travhawks 1-2 in preseason. At least we beat the crap out of the Vikings, thanks to the defense. First two offensive plays of the game for the Vikings resulted in 14 points as Thurmond and Hill pick-6'd McNabb. Donovan ended his one half of football with four or five interceptions.

My favorite feature so far -- Consistency. Take Marshawn Lynch. Game 1, the starters only played a quarter, and Lynch got all of 5 carries for 0 yards. Next game, he gets 8 for 85, with a 40-yard TD scamper. It's frustrating as hell in a realistic way, which I appreciate so far.

The Travhawks' secondary is brutal. After trading Jennings (With his 'Underachiever' trait) and a draft pick to the Pats for Mallett, I scoured the trade block and found the stocked-and-shopping Eagles. Worked a trade for Rodgers-Cromartie with Hawthorne and a 2013 3rd rounder. Trufant, R-C, Thomas, Bigsby... People are having problems passing against us so far. Big hole at MLB, though. Mallett is handily winning the open 3-way QB competition.

I kind of ran into a small problem. I moved my TV to my new place Thursday, and I don't have internet until Wednesday. Now that I've fixed my phone's 4g issue, I might be able to tether my PS3 to that network (we'll see), but otherwise I'm not able to do a whole lot.

Sarlacc, on comparing .NET to Soccer: And why not? It's a bunch of people running around in circles, feigning pain, and never scoring.

Crap, am I supposed to do something, now? I'll pop on to take a look-see when I get off work. If it's up to me, frick it. Onward! Er, well, I'll give it a couple days for everyone to transition from 'Wha?' to 'We're doing things, now'.

Hey Spounge, let me know a good time to try and nudge your Lions to a 0-2 start.

Commish Stuff: I just realized that I have to approve trades. So, since it's unfair to approve my OWN stupid trades -- If I do happen to want to make one I'll post it here for secondary approval. For now, nobody else has to worry about that, since I'll constitute the 'secondary' part.

So... Anquan Boldin and I are Cort Finnegan's bitch because dude was on him like white-on-rice and intercepted me 3 times in my game against the Titans. And to add one more, Rudd got another INT off me so Flacco had a great day.

Sorry I missed and delayed week 1. I'm good now. Good luck in that Chiefs and Lion matchup.

Hope we do get to play it. Between that 10-7 Buccs/Lions game and the 16-0 Chiefs/Bills it sounds like Lions/Chiefs is going to be a grind-out punch-in-the-face sort of affair. Although the Lions DO give me some serious matchup problems. Does the Lions D-Line shut down Jamaal Charles? Breaston emerged as a threat in the Bills game, but the passing attack was only decent. Also had plenty of red zone trouble, getting one TD and three FGs. Thinking of switching to Thomas Jones for those short 'n dirty situations.

My front seven are iffy on defense, but if we can at least contain the run and encourage teams to pass... Berry and Flowers are constantly threatening a pick. Chiefs secondary picked off Fitz four freakin' times. Makes for a demoralizing game when they get a pick, grind out five minutes of clock, then get another pick and do it again. Quarter's over, and you've just been ground and annoyed and tired out your defense for 6-0, heh.

Stafford could light it up, could find Berry in his nightmares. Good game, in theory.

In the pouring rain, Sanchez started off hot. Santonio Holmes took a slant 25 yards, and Plaxico Burress was too good for Jacksonville to press. Shonn Greene benefited from the pass-conscious secondary and had many effective runs between the tackles. My strategy was to get Jacksonville biting inside before unleashing Joe McKnight, who I probably didn't use enough (3 carries, 66 yards, 1TD, in the third quarter). Once the defense started playing the run, my short-passing game went to shit and due to the weather and blocking (I want to murder former Seahawk Wayne Hunter, my RT, who caused Sanchez to take a safety due to poor AI) I couldn't go downfield.

Darrell Revis struggled a bit, though he did make an interception he also gave up a couple deep balls and was not the difference maker I expected. Luckily, Antonio Cromartie is the supremely overrated player I knew he'd be, and he had two picks and played great. Blaine Gabbert was dogged (and ran all over me) but not terribly dangerous, and MJD suffered the fate all running games do against the Jets... humiliation.

The Jags staged a late comeback, due to some poor coverage by Revis and a ridiculous interception when the game was won (I like running up the score), but luckily my defense held on at the end and we pulled out the victory. Good game, but if Revis doesn't play at a dominant level this is going to be a choppy season. After making trades to address my lack of safety speed, I need to try to upgrade my LG or RT position so I can really trust my protection.

Sarlacc, on comparing .NET to Soccer: And why not? It's a bunch of people running around in circles, feigning pain, and never scoring.

Week's Advanced, expect the next one around Thursday or Friday, unless anyone has any objections. Keep recruiting!

Dude, that was a high-stress game. I spent about 90% of the game wondering why I couldn't catch a break, then the last minute or two wondering how I was catching so many. *heh* Bowe finished the game with 4 receptions for 160 yards. The VAST majority of that came within the last minute and a half of the game, as did two touchdowns.

Before that, I was pulling my hair out due to dropped passes, a false start, blown assignments, and half-hearted arm tackles. Oh, and a freakin' special teams TD.

Bonus points to the Lions for shutting down Charles. After the first drive, I was thinking he'd be able to run amok on them, but good adjustments to keep him a non-factor. Cassel is not the best QB in the world to have when playing from behind, but Bowe and tons of luck in the last couple minutes made the game appear closer than it was. Best gashed us for over 200 yards (Chiefs don't technically HAVE a d-line. Shut Stafford the hell down, at least... but, if you've got a guy running for 200 yards, who cares?)

Chiefs fall to 1-2 after a game far uglier than the score might indicate. Chargers stepped on our faces, 18-6. Cassell threw five picks, three of which were bizarrely flukey, the other two on deep 'What the hell?' routes. One bounced off a lineman's head and was caught by a linebacker that seemed surprised to see the ball in his hands.

Cass couldn't even get decent protection against a 3-man rush in the late going. Totally absurd to be mass protect against a deep dime zone and not have more than a few seconds to get a pass off.